For an unsuspecting traveller, the exit from the Jiu gorge just north of Petroșani is only an opportunity to admire a still steep landscape, through which the road to Hațeg winds according to engineering rules. Here, the metamorphic formations of the Sebeș-Lotru Geological Series give way, tectonically, to the sedimentary formations of the Hațeg basin. They are transposed into a predominantly hilly morphology, with a plateau or alluvial plain character, but also through formations reminiscent of once impressive mountain ranges. The fortified acropolis from Bănița Hill is such place, known for the Dacian fortress built in its upper part and supported archaeologically by an inhabited area at the foot, unfortunately destroyed by all modern construction works.
Difficult to be reach due to the absence of paths, or, at least properly identified for a UNESCO objective, the area with traces of Dacian fortifications is marked by the presence of walls made of oolitic limestone blocks, fundamentally different in structure and petrographic variety from the limestone that constitutes the geological substrate of the hill.
As in the case of Piatra Roșie fortress, the limestone from the foundation of Bănița hill is not workable, with a reasonable effort, in dimensioned form, fact that determined the craftsmen of time to bring here blocks made of oolithic stone.
The two samples were mineralogically analyzed and typologically confirm the varieties found in the other Dacian fortresses around Sarmizegetusa Regia and in the Măgura Călanului hill, in the area of the historical quarry. However, this informative research needs to be detailed in terms of petrographic varieties at a later stage.